Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #18

Geeeeze Louise! I had no idea all this was going on over here. I was so busy trying to keep up with the swap thread that I didn't know this thread had run amok too! I haven't a prayer of getting through all this.

As I was skimming through the posts I did see my name where Therese ask about the Green Wizard Rudbeckia. I've got to be honest, I only stated what the "adds" say about it. It does seem rather confusing that they call both the echies and that particular rudbeckia a "coneflower," but that's what the sellers say, so I said it too. LOL.

I was also looking at your amaranth and wondering if it's the same as mine. The leaves look identical, but the plumes on mine seem a little more feathery. See? Right up there where the paint is peeling on the porch post.
:-P

p.s. If you really need me for anything, I'm watching the swap thread pretty closely. You'll find me over there more than anywhere for the next couple of weeks. ;-)

>>I was also looking at your amaranth and wondering if it's the same as mine. The leaves look identical, but the plumes on mine seem a little more feathery. See?

I do think there are different varieties... as with everything else... but yours was MUCH taller than mine... mine was maybe 36-42" Yours looks closer to 5+ feet.

I have the amaranth from Lala_Jane and it is way taller than I am. I am 5'5". I had 2 huge plants this year and about a million tiny seedlings after I had to take it out when the hurricane Ike winds hit here. Hope a few will come up next spring.
BTW Therese I read over there that you want some '
Black and Blue' salvia seed. I have a few to spare if you want. D-mail me. I am afraid I would never be able to keep up with the swap so I am not doing it.
Thanks Lea for reminding me though. I am going to keep on this chat thread but can't do the swap. You all have fun.

Thanks Nanny -- i'll do that.

LOL Indy. I guarantee you'll have more seedlings next year than you have hairs on your head. No joke.

well, thats good to know -- before i yanked mine out of the ground, i held it upside down and gave it a good shake.

Can amaranth tolerate dry conditions? That would look so good in my pink garden, but its pretty dry there.

I think I'm finally caught up. Got baggies labeled with usernames and all the promised seed so far distributed. Now, for the next wave of lists to go up!

>>Can amaranth tolerate dry conditions

I [generally] do not water back where i had this planted... so in my case, yes, it did find with dry conditions.

Thanks, Terese, just what I was hoping to hear :-)

It was very dry here this year and my amaranth grew tall and wide without extra water.
Lala I am going to die laughing when all those little purple plants come up.....

I have a question. has anyone grown baptisia australis from seed? I got some from the swap and started it and I know they are slow from seed. But I was wondering how slow? Will they look like anything next year? or just stay single stemmed short seedlings? That is what I found with Amsonia I started 2 years ago - it looked the same it's second year as it's first. See what I mean http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/showimage.php?eid=180254 I am just curious, so if anyone has experience p.l.m.k : )

Don't know how much they grow but I gave a friend a start which was a volunteer that came up. It was 8 or 10 inches tall this fall, about the size mine were when I ordered them. Baptisia is one of those first they sleep, then they creep and then they leap plants. If you plan on moving it do it in the first year in the ground. I moved one once and it took a long time digging to get it up. The roots just wind around or something and it is very hard to get out. That said it did not hurt it one bit. I had 3 bushes and this year decided all I want is 1 so I just cut it off and RU ed it, don't know if it will come back next year but my guess is probably. That root is amazing. The black pods are beautiful in dried arrangements. Don't leave them for the birds is my advice ref the volunteer. I had lots.

Meredith, I started some Baptisia this spring too, and I'm expecting blooms the 3rd year judging from the rate of growth.

I think someone had white babtisia, and I think I may have asked for some, LOL.

Thank you : )

I'm so proud, all my seeds are now in alphabetical order, with my packages in a 2-sided tray, 1 side with seed packaged and ready to go in baggies, the other with my "master packs". Rummaging through all those packs was driving me nuts, now they're at my fingertips! And, got 24 baggies labeled with names and stuffed with requested seeds- and filed in alphabetical order too. This is working out great, when I see a request, I pack it and file it right then :-)

Everyone has posted such wonderful lists :)

I need a week just to read them all.

Tuink, your list is super great, my goodness. I found a few things I have to look up.

Oh you are so good : ) - I wish I could be that organized but this swap is a bit early for me and some of my stuff isn't all the way dry so I just have to seperate them into little piles to see how many packs I can offer. It's kinda making me nervous to know I still have so much work ahead of me!

I just tried something this morning. I have these things called bio-dots, little stickers you put on your hand, and the color indicates your state of relaxation, activity, or stress; black-brown=stressed, green-gold=active, and aqua-blue=relaxed, with indigo being most relaxed. I've been finding the seed sorting very relaxing, and sure enough the dot goes very blue. This is better than meditation, LOL.

Okay I just found something very interesting to me. I was looking at Swallowtail seeds and making a list of stuff I'd like to try someday. And I noticed when looking at their list of Milkweed seeds that they have a Asclepias incarnata (which I know as Swamp Milkweed) called Soulmate and the interesting thing to me is it says it flowers 3 months from sowing!!
I purchased a swamp milkweed plant from the New England Wild Flower Society and I collected seeds of it it's second year blooming. Well I started those seeds and planted the seedlings out last year '07' and they still didn't flower in '08' so these are in my mind a plant that takes at least three years to flower. Also my original plant didn't do well and never flowered. Hmm I think I want to try those seeds now just to see if they actually flower the first year!

Änd if you happen to do so and happen to have a few left.....

I would like to try, it seems this one grows fast. Maybe I can get it through winter this time.....

I will definitely share some with you tuink if I end up ordering. : ) I think I need to wait until the swap is all over so I will not order too much stuff I won't be able to start! lol Also I am surprised they wouldn't overwinter for you with such warm winter lows. The ones I have overwintered fine just no flowers, so I would be able to share some of the seeds from them next year - if they cooperate and flower that is. : )

Neal, you are so organizied it makes me sick lol I want to be you but I will never be and esp. with seeds LOL I need for you to touch my hand so it will rub off on me, at one point I thought I was organized and it went right out the window lol How can you be organized when you have 1,000 sitting in front of you wanting to be cleaned, bagged and tagged! :) I think I'll still be cleaning seeds after the swap and maybe into next year! Neal, seed sorting is very stressful for me lol My dots would turn black on me lol I just want to get them done all at once lol Where in the world did you find those sounds like something nice to play with :)

Meredith, I don't think Soulmate does bloom until it's third year, remember that one thread we were talking about butterfly weed? Someone on there said it would and I knew that was wrong, I have a few of the orange seeds that need to be cleaned if you want to try the perennial orange again, not enough to put in the swap, I have the yellow and the orange and yellow annuals too if someone wants them, those are some of the seeds that I haven't cleaned yet, I have containers in the fridge of them I NEED to get out lol Oh I have the pink one too but those are in your bag :)

And yes Critter I know the names lol I just can't spell that well off the top of my head and it takes too much time to look them up I have almost 300 plants in my 'have' list for refering back to but it takes so long to find them when I want to spell them, call me lazy but it's not that really I'm just pressed for time lol Don't bother going back to look at my have list cause they are all disabled :) I still say the purple milkweed won't bloom until it's third year either we shall see if that is what I have cause I have seeds for this year :) I really don't like having milkweeds that I'm not sure what they are, call me picky lol

I've missed being on here :) Need to get done with these seeds lol

Well, it took a frenzied search through my chaotic bag of seed packs, only to find that what I was looking for was missing, to get me to organize them. I'd have pulled all my hair out by the end of the swap if I hadn't, LOL. The bio-dots came from my therapist to see what relaxation methods worked best for me.

Lea - I remember that thread and for some reason I thought people were talking about a purple milkweed that blooms the first year from seed, but now I realize I am mixing stuff up. lol I think I was confusing it with the fact that some people were getting their purple milkweed seeds to germinate without cold treatment. Thank you for thinking of me for the Orange seeds but I too have some, but not enough for the swap lol.
Here is the link to the page they have 'Soulmate' http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/butterfly_weed_peren.html It sure looks just like mine - http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/showimage.php?eid=107131
It just makes me wonder if there is a seed strain out there that blooms faster from seed than the species. IT would be a good strain to have for seed swaps so people don't have to wait three years for a bloom. MOst likely they are just mixing the descriptions up though - I know sometimes you'll get a couple tiny blooms on the Orange ones the first year when started early and grown in lots of sun. And they have it under the common name Butterfly Weed so that is probably what it is. (At least that is what I am telling myself so I won't break down and buy it when I really don't need it! : )

>>(At least that is what I am telling myself so I won't break down and buy it when I really don't need it! : )


LOL Meredith --- great way to justify things. I do that too.

I guess i do like the "tropical" ones, as even though i have to plant them every year -- i get blooms that first year.

I WS'ed the Butterfly MW this past year... so i'm hoping for blooms this [opsss, next] summer.

tcs - I hope you get the blooms sooner than later! It stinks having to wait 3 years to see something bloom. You know I had bad luck with my Bloodflowers last year* - only one made it to bloom and it never went to seed because the hungry monarch cats ate the flowers first! They ate all of them to stems which is funny because the year before I had a huge flowering crop and it was hardly touched by the MOnarch cats. While the orange ones it was the opposite - they didn't touch them this year but they devoured them the year before. I think their tastes change year to year lol. Those finicky diners : )

*I am already saying last year! but I meant '08' : )

This message was edited Nov 15, 2008 2:34 PM

I have also found that I need to Ws the seeds to get the pods to mature. but then, it also depends on how fast the cold temps get here. the ones i WS'ed this year got mature seeds, where the ones that germinated from fallen seeds, got pods, but the did not mature.

and i guess i can not compare to 2007 season, since all of those were WS'ed and it was my first year with the Scarlet MW. but i had tons of seeds... a lot more than this year.

oh, and the cats... the ate the Scarlet, but they LOVED the Butterfly Weed... chopped it to a stick, and it obviously did not have flowers yet. Last year i did not see any Cats... so hopefully now they know i have a garden for them.

Isn't that funny? I think it just wasn't a good year in the north for the curassivica - because I got so many seeds the first year I didn't know what to do with them all! I was looking through my seed box and I found an extra pack I never traded. So thank goodness I'll have some for next year! I also didn't start mine as early this year because of the swap I was so behind on starting stuff. : ) This year I need to remember to start them earlier!

tcs - I know you know how but I have always wanted to learn how to do that quote thing on DG.


This message was edited Nov 15, 2008 4:06 PM

this is the only 'tag' you use where you DONT use the < and >
you use the [ and ]

"quote" paste text here "/quote" but obviously use these [ and ]

i know it looks confusing - because if i did it correctly , it would not show.... give it a whirl and see what pops up.

Meredith, I've got a milkweed out there that I'm going to have to grow everyone of them just to see what this one is for sure, when I look at the pictures of them after a while they just get confusing lol What I thought here was purple milkweed and was crying because it didn't produce seeds is Showy milkweed I think, I've had it for years and just now it's starting to put out underground runners, just did happen when I broke the soil to plant and now it's coming up where those plants are. Maybe one of these days we will get them all straight after our yards are full of all different kinds lol I give myself and now am just going to rely on the seeds that I get from the catalogs and hope they are right lol

Neal, it must be nice to have a therapist :) I need one of those esp. here with dad knocking on the walls non stop today, he gets bored because he can't get outside and I get to pay for it LOL I gotta find me some of those dots!

Okay here she goes again

Yippy! It worked! Thanks tcs!

no prob.

Cool Meredith you did it, now I need to learn, just no time right now it's always like that lol

Just wanted to let you all know I put more seeds up if anyone wants to look :)

**shielding eye**

i'm not looking...........

I will notlook.. I will not look. Well I tried, gonna have tolook. hehehehehhe then it will be I wilnot ask. I will not ask. LOL

Almpost forgot what I cam eover here for. What is think it was called sea mallow? Probably got it wrong, but all I remmebr is somethign Sea and can't find the post again off hand.

star, is this what you're looking for?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5795510

Hi, I'm wondering if hollyhocks cross pollinate?

I would like to plant white double hollyhocks nearby to hollyhock creme de cassis, will the seeds stay true?

I blew it with our basil plants and planted them all too close together this summer. Our lime basil seeds smell exactly like the lemon basil...I really don't remember if they always did, so I may re-buy seeds and start over.

NEED HELP REGARDING SEEDS WITH FLUFF!

Question 1: Just harvested a few japanese anemone seed heads. Some were bursting open with a cottony fluff, so I could tell they were ready. Others that weren't open just fell off when I touched them. Will these be viable if I dry them? Also, do I dry them until they separate from the cottony fluff?

Question 2: Just harvested a pod of orange butterfly weed. Has silky tail on each seed. Do I dry these until tail falls off or leave the tail?

Thanks for any help!!!!